Saturday, February 21, 2009

No Juicy Post about Jose Canseco

I was never a huge fan of Jose Canseco. Ironically, I am more of a fan now, since he is one of the few baseball people who has told the truth. Yet, when I heard he was doing a book-signing at Borders, I decided to try to add him to my collection.
I got to Borders on time and found basically no line and no Canseco, so I left the store to grab a Coke. As I stepped outside, I almost ran into Canseco who was on his cell phone as he walked into Borders.
Canseco was huge. I have been around wrestlers and other sports figures. Canseco would easily be among the biggest of all of them. He is listed at 6'4" and 240 pounds. Granted he is solid muscle, but there is no way he only weighed 240. He was just massive.
As is the case with a lot of such signings, Canseco would only be signing his book, no other objects (baseballs, photos...). As is also the case sometimes, there would be no posed photos with Canseco. There would be no inscriptions either, just his signed name.
I hate these restrictions, but I understand them. However, the fact that Canseco did not even acknowledge a lot of the people as he signed is just crappy. Part of the time he was on his cell phone. Part of the time he talked with his assistant. None of the time did he look up and smile for any photos. Basically, he just sat there, head down, signing just his name in the book.
I saw a lot of people leave without buying his book because of this. Canseco probably didn't even see them, nor would he have cared. It just bothers me. I almost never complain about celebrities. I am not one who thinks they owe us autographs or anything else. I do think that if he is there to sign (and sell) his book, the least he could have done was look up for a quick picture. Is that asking too much?
Jose Canseco in Chicago, IL-Summer 2005.

7 comments:

Spiff said...

Sad really. Canseco's money problems keep coming up but if he was more fan-friendly he might be a little better off.

Johngy said...

I suppose it is loose change overall, but I know he could have sold double the books at this event if he interacted at all with the fans.
Doing the signings is probably more for the store than his book sales, but as I always say, if you are there to sign autographs, it wouldn't kill the celeb to be fan-friendly for the 2 hours.

Anonymous said...

Just watched the Jose Canseco piece on Biography. It was ell done! It gave me an alternative view of Jose--gave me a peak into his humanity.

I have written several screenplays with sports and sports heros at the center. I'd like to think of myself as an expert on the subject. But even though I think I know a lot, I was misguided on the subject of Jose. He's a decent guy--a guy many of us as young boys would have loved to become.

My son is a good athlete. He watched the program and learned a lot from it. Good luck, Jose. And thank you Biography for doing worthwhile and good programs.

P.S. Jose... marry that girlfriend and adopt the girlfriend's kid. Don't let baseball take that away from you. Women like that don't come along often. Eventually baseball history will remember you fondly, but you and the woman can't wait that long.

Good luck.

Anonymous said...

You should send this post to his press agent.

I disagree with you on one point: I am not one who thinks they owe us autographs or anything else.

Celebrites are only so because of their drawing power, i.e., the ability to get the general consumer to spend $$$$ on movie/sports tickets, books, t-shirts, etc.

Just "showing up" isn't part of what they signed on for. Baseball is not so much a sport as entertainment...

I believe they owe it to their fans to smile, look up, etc. I understand the restrictions, that's ok.

I mean the guy's at a signing...it's not like he's being approached at a restaurant while he's dining with friends.

I just wish consumers as a whole would recognize the huge power they have over these celebrities and sports figures.

Johngy said...

Anon-
I am glad you saw a different side of Jose. I have no problem with any youngster wanting to become an All-Star, however I really hope they do not want to become Jose. If youngsters are using athletes as role models, there are much better choices. Jose has had many chances to reveal other sides of himself, but he has yet to really take the opportunity to show the better side of himself.

Hurricane-
I don't think athletes owe fans autographs. It's a no-win situation for them. When does it end. If he signs 100, the 101st person will tell the story of how the player refused his request. Too many 'fans' are also in it only for the resale value.
I do think they have an obligation at signings to be fan-friendly.

Anonymous said...

we are in agreement once again--yet appear to be disagreeing. You missed my point. I didn't say they owe their fans an autograph.
I said they owe it to them to be friendly, etc.

Johngy said...

HG-
I didn't think I was disagreeing with you. I was trying to clarify my position. I think we can agree to agree on this one.